Libertarian Party
"The government solution to a problem is usually as bad as the problem." - Milton Friedman The 'Libertarian Party '''is a right-of-centre political party that was originally founded in 2006 but dissolved in April 2015 due to inactivity. It was restored in February 2017 with the help of ByronicHero. Historical Libertarian Party (April 2006 - April 2015) The Libertarian Party was set up to promote Libertarianism, based on the following principle: ''"That each and every adult is the sole and sovereign owner of their life and legitimately acquired property and so, therefore, people should have the freedom to live in whatever manner they desire, so long as they do not infringe upon the freedom of others to do the same". It originally splintered from the Conservative Party The party contributed a considerable number of bills and motions, and also served as a junior government coalition partner during the 6th, 7th and 17th Parliaments. Despite key figures, such as Rakas21, doing their best to save them. the Libertarian Party eventually closed down. Following prolonged inactivity, an internal vote in April 2015 approved the full closure of the Libertarian Party. This was subsequently announced to the House by the Speaker. Some people suggested that the party had closed down as most people on TSR who identify as libertarian were perfectly happy to join a Tory or Liberal Party that on many issues put forward libertarian legislation and a lack of membership. Attempts to Revive the Party (April 2015 - September 2016) Almost immediately after the party's closure, in April 2015, Jacob E released a proposal to re-introduce the party. He pledged that 'along with my founding team we will become a cornerstone of pragmatic, sensible decision making in the house.' Some of the members who would join the party included JoeL1994, Wellzi and adam9317. However, his proposal did not receive a positive response. Then-Labour Party Leader RayApparently branded it as a 'scam' and 'an illegitimate party.' Saracen's Fez also expressed concern over the high amount of dual members. However, That Bearded Man was the most critical. He said that Jacob's 'attitude towards TalentedLobster is completely unacceptable' and that 'words cannot describe the arrogance.' The Speaker, Birchington, took into account concerns and announced that unless the proposed members demonstrated more commitment to the proposed party, it would not be formed. They did not and this particular project was abandoned. In August 2016, a completely new member to the House called Galaxie501 proposed the re-creation of a Libertarian Party. He declared that 'my goal is to bring libertarian principles back to TSR.' To begin with, the proposal was met with scepticism, with many members suggesting that it could collapse within a few months like the National Liberal Party did. For example, Airmed remarked that she was 'wary of this after the Nat Libs'. However, some members welcomed the proposal. TheDefiniteArticle commented: 'I would be interested in seeing this party form.' TitanCream, a Liberal Party member who had become disillusioned with the Conservative coalition partners, left his party to help Galaxie501 with the project. He soon became the unofficial Deputy Leader of the party. However, things took a turn for the worse when the party released a bill to privatise the NHS; members heavily criticised this particular piece of legislation. Then, Galaxie501 disappeared, leaving TitanCream to run the project by himself. Romanbowling33 joined the House and helped TitanCream but ultimately, there simply wasn't enough support. TitanCream returned to the Liberal Party and Romanbowling33 joined the Conservative Party. Party Resurrection (January 2017 - June 2017) In January 2017, MHoC veteran ByronicHero put forward his proposal for a Libertarian Party revival. He put forward several potential policies the party would support including minimal government intervention, individual choice, freedom of speech, strong defence, a points based immigration system, a reformed prison system, the removal of personal allowance, denationalisation of education and decriminalisation of drugs. ByronicHero himself was not a firm Libertarian supporter but believed that the MHoC needed a Libertarian Party. Several members were concerned that the Liberal Party would suffer if the Libertarian Party was allowed to form, but PetrosAC remained unfazed, stating that 'we have plenty of members that aren't MPs.' Gladstone1885 was the first member to leave the Liberal Party to assist ByronicHero and he was appointed as the unofficial Deputy Leader. Connor27 and Joep95 from the Liberal Party also made the move. TitanCream and hazzer1998 also signed up as potential members but did not leave the Liberal Party. ByronicHero asked then-Speaker Saracen's Fez whether his party would be able to form but the latter replied with: 'I'll probably leave it to my successor, it seems only fair to do so now.' He did warn ByronicHero however that he would need to provide proof that there was a gap in the market and that the potential members would be completely dedicated to the party. Following adam9317's successful campaign in the Speakership Election that resulted in his appointment as the new Speaker, ByronicHero put forward a formal formation request. In it, he congratulated the new Speaker on his victory, highlighted the activity of the party members and listed the party members. adam9317 acknowledged the request and announced that he would not make a decision until he had been given all the relevant powers. However, 2 weeks later, he revealed that the Community Team would not be able to provide a TSR subforum for the Libertarian Party for several months. Members were confused about the delay and ByronicHero stepped down as the unofficial Leader of the party, stating that 'hopefully the others will see it through to completion and if not I will come back in a few months and do it myself.' Nevertheless, the next day, adam9317 formally declared the formation of the Libertarian Party. _gcx defected from the Labour Party to the Libertarian Party the same day. However, a series of criticisms were made about the formation of the party and its membership which culminated in a controversy dubbed 'Libgate'. Despite a rocky few days during the formation of the party, the situation stabilized, with the party creating a constitution, and electing Gladstone1885 and _gcx as Leader and Deputy Leader respectively. heri2rs, a new member to the House at the time, decided to join the party. At one point, it appeared as though Nirvana1989-1994 might defect to the party from the Conservative Party but this collapsed when she realised that she would miss the Conservative Party too much. Over the coming months, the party managed to acquire a few more members including TitanCream and jamestg. In April 2017, the party introduced the Chairsperson position and Connor27 was unanimously elected as the first Chairsperson. Electoral Success and Flekygate (June 2017 - August 2017) In June 2017, then led by _gcx, the House were shocked by the party's performance in the General Election. Having been expected by most to return in a mediocre fashion, the party finished marginally ahead of the Conservative Party, of which it had developed a fierce rivalry with, and the Liberal Party with a total of 9 seats. However, this did not last long. It was soon discovered that the new Deputy Leader, fleky6910 (responsible for a large recruiting spree), had broken the rules; proof was released highlighting that he had attempted to recruit a member of the Conservative Party after the legal point. Despite having released a defiant statement refusing to give up his role, it came to no avail - shortly after writing the statement, he was forced to resign following the launch of a Vote of No Confidence in his role spearheaded by joecphillips. Speaker PetrosAC subsequently released a thread in which he took 2 seats away from the party. Originally planning to send the seats to a by-election, he swiftly changed his mind, allocating the seats to the Labour Party and the Conservative Party. In spite of the resulting stark opposition from the party, and the eventual further opposition from members across the house, he did not go back on his rulling to take 2 seats away from the party. Perhaps spurred by opposition from his dealing with the scandal dubbed as Flekygate, he soon succumbed to a Vote of No Confidence, spurring an election for a new Speaker. Following fleky6910's resignation and departure from the house, and Connor27's appointment as his replacement, the party planned to quietly move past the post-election drama that tarnished its already controversial reputation further. The party quickly returned to the negative attention of the House, after it was discovered that the party covered up its knowledge that fleky6910, under the alias of F.V.Wieser, had secretly returned. Not only condemned for a lack of transparency, it was discovered that he had used both accounts at the same time at one point, again breaking rules. _gcx vowed to pursue essential reform, yet his response to the crisis was overshadowed by the revelation that ex-Leader Gladstone1885 posted a fake statement on his behalf, claiming that _gcx was dealing with family issues. Controversy remained, following a statement from Acting Speaker cranbrook_aspie that explained the reasoning for the punishment of Gladstone1885 and Connor27 for advising fleky6910 about his dupe account. His statement was shown to not have a legitimate basis, causing the punishments to be delayed until Rakas21 won in the election to replace PetrosAC. In spite of this, the confusion led to him resigning his role, leading to a third Deputy Leader election since the party's founding earlier in the year. Unknown to the House and having only joined the party just prior to the General Election, Saunders16 surprised many by prevailing in the Deputy Leader election. Without its controversial members, and following the departure of whistleblower joecphillips, the party reclined into a position of normality and a contrasting, surprising level of silence. Less than a month later, following _gcx's admission that he lacked the same level of interest in the House, he resigned from his role as Leader, concluding Saunders16's rise to power, who won the resultant election without opposition. Saunders16's Tenure (August 2017 - January 2018) Quick running elections for the vacant Deputy Leader and Chairsperson positions took place early in Saunders16's tenure, TitanCream finally rose to a high role, becoming the party's new Deputy Leader, and newcomer That'sGreat won the corresponding election, allowing the party to finally replace Connor27 as Chairsperson. These appointments were greeted with congratulations from the House, with Saunders16 declaring his intention to improve relations with the two closest parties to them: the Liberal Party and the Conservative Party. Relations continued to be bitter at points, especially in the first by-election when the Liberal Party attacked the Libertarian Party's members and in the second by-election when the Libertarian Party attacked both parties for perceived wrongdoing in government and opposition. By the end of the term, however, all three parties had moved past their issues with each other. Saunders16's first term in power had seen relations eventually improved, activity drastically increase in the second half of the term and the party's first major legislative achievement with the decriminalisation of drugs. Due to time constraints, TitanCream was replaced as Deputy Leader by long-serving member of the party joecphillips. In November 2017, Quamquam123 defected to the party from the Green Party. He had previously acted as the party's constitutional consultant but this was the first time he became a full member of the party. The end of the 25th Parliamentary Term saw several new members involed in the House, including CatusStarbright, who became Deputy Leader after joecphillip's resignation, CountBrandenburg, Scisaac, TCFactor, Thrillanthropist, and mrwb9876. Earlier in the term Jammy Duel also defected to the party, having failed to retain his seat as an independent candidate in the 25th General Election. Tensions rose during the 26th General Election when members attacked the Leadership Team for giving away information to other parties. This resulted in a string of Vote of No Confidences proposed in the Leader and the Deputy Leader. During the Votes of No Confidence, Saunders16 removed Jammy Duel, Connor27 and joecphillips from the party for behaviour towards party members and other parties. Shortly after this event, the party was rocked again when it was revealed then-Deputy Speaker cranbrook_aspie had been leaking classified information to Saunders16. This event would later be dubbed 'Craundersgate'. Despite possessing the support of the party, the pressure against him led to a resignation and a new election, in which CatusStarbright rose in a similar fashion to become the party's new Leader, before being replaced herself by CountBrandenburg. In one of Saunders16's last acts as Leader, a Party Council was founded to arbitrate in constitutional disputes and provide guidance to the Leadership Team. CountBrandenburg and TCFactor both served in the Council alongside Thrillanthropist, the last remaining founding member, who serves alongside Saunders16 at this point, taking the position formerly held by CountBrandenburg. TCFactor announced his resignation from party council and defected to the Liberal Party, leaving mrwb9876 to take his place. CatusStarbright's Tenure (January 2018 - September 2018) Following Saunders16 resignation, CatusStarbright was elected leader. As a result of Craundersgate, the Speaker stripped the party of 2 seats. However, the Speaker allowed them to stand in the by-election and they've won one seat back. With the coalition government of Con-Lib-Kip collapsed, CatusStarbright negotiated a coalition with Liberal Party in March. The role of Party President was created and Saunders16 was appointed the first Party President. Two months later In May the government falters, a Vote of No Confidence is called in the government with Saunders16 and CountBrandenburg seconding the motion, the government collapses. As punishment CatusStarbright Vote of No Confidence both Saunders16 and CountBrandenburg, Saunders leaves the party and CountBrandenbrg leaks information as well as leaving the party. CatusStarbright merges the Deputy Leader with Party President. Connor is elected the new Party President. On June the party had an unexpected result winning 10 seats best election in the party history (this can be attributed to the party using UnownUzer for votes before screwing him over afterward). The party also won a by-election taking their seat total to record 11 seats. During this time Connor27 and Tommy1Boy started fighting. Tommy tried to topple Connor27 from leadership accusing him breaching a peace deal (a deal that prevents Connor27 from digging around Tommy1Boy business) that meant he will resign if the deal was breached. Tommy1Boy had little evidence and Connor27 continued to dig around Tommy1Boy business. Confiding in Vitiate who tricked him into believing he was on Connor27 side. Instead, he used that information to help Tommy1Boy topple Connor27 leadership, forcing Connor27 to resign on July 2018. In retaliation, Connor27 last act as Party President had Tommy1Boy expelled from the party. On September CatusStarbirght decided to resign and Jammy Duel was elected as her replacement. Jammy Duel's Tenure (September 2018 - December 2018) Following CatusStarbright resignation Jammy Duel was elected leader and the party started declining. On October the Party council members and another member went AWOL and Jammy Duel failed to find replacements in time this caused all 4 seats to be lost in by-elections during the first voting review. After the 28th general elections, the party won a historic low of 5 seats. Many parties were put off from working with the party based on Jammy Duel's brash and abrasive manner made it difficult to foster relationships with other parties. This led Connor27 to Vote of No Confidence Jammy Duel on December, in retaliation Jammy Duel admitted a suspected Jacob E dupe PrettyHotThing into the party unconstitutionally who threatened to leak private subforum information. Once the motion had passed Connor27 became an acting leader who unfavorably added Aph to the party and re-admitted CatusStarbright. Connor27's Tenure (January 2019 - Present) Following a leadership election, Connor27 was elected as leader. London090 was elected to Party President to replace him. Subsequently, Hazzer1998 started colluding with Jacob E and constantly leaked private subforum information. After having enough mr T 999 Vote of No Confidence Hazzer1998 and he was removed from the party. Electoral Performance The Libertarian Party stood in 20 General Elections, with its best performance coming in June 2018 when the party won 10 seats. This table shows how the Libertarian Party performed in General Elections throughout its history; *The party had originally come 2nd with 9 seats, directly proportionate to its number of votes, before the revelations about fleky6910. Leaders There have been 16 Libertarian Leaders to date with Beekeeper being the first one and Mr T 999 being the current one. It is worth noting that although ByronicHero was responsible for restoring the party in February 2017, he did not officially serve as their Leader. No Libertarian Leader is yet to serve as Prime Minister or Leader of the Opposition. Deputy Leaders The position of Deputy Leader was created in February 2017. There have been 11 Libertarian Deputy Leaders to date with _gcx being the first one and CountBrandenburg being the last one. Deputy Leader was abolished after May 2018, and returned in January 2019 with London090 taking the role. Jammy Duel is the current deputy leader. Deputy Leaders who also served as Leader at some point are marked with an asterisk. Party Presidents The position of Party President was created in March 2018. As of January 2019 the position has reverted to Deputy Leader. There has been 4 Libertarian Party President/Deputy Leader to date with Saunders16 be the first one and London090 the current one. Party Presidents who also served as Leader at some point are marked with an asterisk. Chairspeople The position of Chairsperson was created in April 2017. There were two, with Connor27 being the first one and That'sGreat being the second one before the position was abolished in November 2017. External Links * Jacob E's Proposal * Galaxie501's Proposal * ByronicHero's Formation Request * Announcement of the Libertarian Party's Restoration * Category:Political Parties